Eastmans' Official Blog | Mule Deer, Antelope, Elk Hunting and Bowhunting Magazine | Eastmans' Hunting Journalshttps://blog.eastmans.com
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 22:33:28 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9https://blog.eastmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-EHJ-32x32.pngEastmans' Official Blog | Mule Deer, Antelope, Elk Hunting and Bowhunting Magazine | Eastmans' Hunting Journalshttps://blog.eastmans.com
323242724207I Want To Hunt Utah, ##$$#!https://blog.eastmans.com/i-want-to-hunt-utah/
https://blog.eastmans.com/i-want-to-hunt-utah/#commentsThu, 17 Jan 2019 22:31:49 +0000https://blog.eastmans.com/?p=11821 Every nonresident hunter has Utah on the list for places to hunt. If you got into the points game late, most coveted tags are unreachable and this actually goes for residents too. Every year at the sport shows Utah guys complain how they never can get drawn for a trophy area let alone just …

Every nonresident hunter has Utah on the list for places to hunt. If you got into the points game late, most coveted tags are unreachable and this actually goes for residents too. Every year at the sport shows Utah guys complain how they never can get drawn for a trophy area let alone just hunt their own state. Is this actually the case? Well, let’s take a look.

There is a lot of competition out there and the average hunter needs to be savvy and to separate yourself from the pack when it comes to being successful. This goes for any state really, but Utah specifically. First, if you want to hunt Utah every year, there are many ways to do this. There are almost 100 general season buck deer hunts in Utah, which includes muzzleloader, archery and rifle hunts. So that gives you an idea of how many opportunity hunts are out there. And that’s just deer. Now these hunts are in a drawing too but most are not difficult to draw and take place in many good areas across the state, they just have difficult hunt dates. Find a unit that you can hunt every year, and spend the time and do your homework. Work on gaining access to private if you have to and combine that with being persistent and hunting hard, there’s no reason you can’t be wildly successful year after year.

Some of the better general deer hunts are Monroe, Dutton, and Pine Valley where success is over 50% for any weapon and muzzleloader and as high as 38% for archery. Those are very high success rates! And these hunts only take two points to draw as a resident. Many of the hunts take no points to draw. So when it comes to deer, there is plenty out there! Be sure to check out the MRS in the upcoming issue of EHJ for more details on some of the best general hunting but limited entry draw odds and stats as well.

Ok, so general elk is an option every year in Utah as well. General season bull elk hunt tags go on sale July 16th and are on a first come first serve basis for muzzle loader and any weapon and do run out when the quota is met. Archery licenses in the general areas are unlimited. There are 19 general season areas, many which border fantastic limited draw areas. So next time you start feeling sorry for yourself because you didn’t draw elk in Utah, take a look at a general season elk hunt, it could make the difference in your hunting season. Once again, put in some leg work to gain access to private if need be and don’t be afraid to volunteer to work for the landowner for a few weekends in the summer to gain access to private. Little things like that can set you apart from the rest of the hunters and may be the upper hand you need to punch your tag on a solid buck or bull.

Some other hunts that are in addition to normal limited entry hunts are via Cooperative Wildlife Management Units. These are hunts where a landowner can enroll in the program if they have a minimum of 5,000 contiguous acres for deer and antelope and a minimum of 10,000 contiguous acres for elk and moose. A management plan is written for the CWMU with cooperation of the landowner and DWR biologist in which the number of permits will be determined available and will be comparable for both the public and private hunters. As of now there are 107 bull elk, 127 buck deer, 62 moose, and 30 antelope CWMU units available. Some of these hunts have more than one license. There are also doe and cow hunts available as well. The licenses issued to the private landowners are transferable so they can be given to or purchased by anyone. Hunters who hold the public tag will also have the same opportunity and acreage to hunt as the private hunters. Once you draw a tag you and the landowner can negotiate when you are going to hunt and how long. Unfortunately, nonresidents cannot apply for the public permits, but they can obtain a voucher from the private landowner for the ability to hunt. Yes, a lot of these hunts are tough to draw for the guys on a budget, there’s no doubt about it. But there are some areas that are guaranteed to draw and of course everything in between.

Season dates are also very liberal in CWMU’s. Archery hunts for deer, elk, and antelope run from Aug 17- Oct 31. Any legal weapon hunts for all species run from Aug 31 – Oct. 30th and muzzleloader hunts run from Aug 31 – Nov 7th. So if you need flexible seasons a CMWU may be just what the doctor ordered.

So there you have it, just because you didn’t draw a tag in Utah doesn’t mean your hopes and dreams of hunting the state are shattered. And if you don’t want to play along in the difficult to draw limited areas, try your hand at drawing a CWMU tag. And if that doesn’t work, purchase a general season buck or bull tag or even buy a CWMU voucher from a landowner. And most importantly, be sure to subscribe to Eastmans’ Hunting and Bowhunting Journals to study up on the MRS. Be sure to get a digital subscription for expanded MRS content too. Good luck in the draws!

]]>https://blog.eastmans.com/i-want-to-hunt-utah/feed/411821Our Youth Hunters Deserve Morehttps://blog.eastmans.com/our-youth-hunters-deserve-more/
https://blog.eastmans.com/our-youth-hunters-deserve-more/#commentsTue, 15 Jan 2019 17:25:02 +0000https://blog.eastmans.com/?p=11817There has been some serious conversation as of late regarding the long-term viability of preference points systems. Many hunters have begun to see the writing on the wall, after years of point creep that there are some serious flaws in these systems mathematically and we may have just slit our own throats as a result …

Nationwide young hunter recruitment is down nearly 20%. This is an extremely alarming trend for those of us who know what that means for the future of hunting. One reason for this catastrophic drop in the West I believe, is the implementation of preference points systems over the past 30 years. For young hunters and newbies to the system the western preference points game has become the barrier to hunting that the lack of public land has become in the East, Midwest and South. The long-term result of a true preference point system like Colorado has is to shut out younger and newer hunters in the system in order to benefit the older and more loyal applicants in the system. The net result, unless you were not on the ground floor of many of these systems, you are screwed! The typical youth hunter in states like Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Oregon will likely never see a sheep tag in their entire lifetime. And the thought of a really high quality fourth season deer tag, or a trophy elk tag during the rut, are probably pipe dreams as well.

Statistics have shown that young hunters adopt hunting early, prior to the age of 15, the reason why many states have begun to lower the minimum legal age to hunt. We need to get these kids and get them early or other activities will capture their interest permanently. Preference point systems tend to push them out past the age of easy adoption which makes hunting compete with video games, sports, and other such activities, which was the case when I was a youngster growing up in Wyoming where the legal age to hunt was 14. Almost none of my high school pals hunted, thank God for my dad and grandfather’s stubbornness.

If this is in fact found to be a major factor to young hunter recruitment, then where on earth do we go from here? That question is as tough as it is difficult to answer as many of us have literally vested decades and tens of thousands of dollars into a system that we thought would someday guarantee us the tag of our dreams, only to find out after 25 years or more of dedication, that mathematically we will probably die before we ever see a coveted tag in our mailbox. There are rough seas ahead for many states as applicants begin to get fed up and give up on these systems both before or after they draw the tag they have been waiting so long for. This along with the lack of hunter recruitment will eventually have a disastrous financial effect on state game and fish agencies throughout the West in the next decade or so.

After publishing an article on the 11 dangerous pitfalls of points systems on our blog at Eastmans.com my inbox soon filled up with feedback from frustrated applicants nation-wide that are rethinking their future contributions to these systems. I don’t have an answer for this problem, certainly not an easy one. But if we don’t figure out a way to get more young and new hunters into the system we will all perish under the weight of our own insatiable lust for the best big game tags in the West.

]]>https://blog.eastmans.com/our-youth-hunters-deserve-more/feed/911817The Myth Of Preference Points!https://blog.eastmans.com/the-myth-of-preference-points/
https://blog.eastmans.com/the-myth-of-preference-points/#commentsWed, 09 Jan 2019 22:12:03 +0000https://blog.eastmans.com/?p=11811WY Resident Preference Points – A Very Bad Idea for a Number of Reasons: And here we go again. Another legislative session in Cheyenne and for some reason the same bad ideas seem to keep coming up, over and over again. Most of us here in Wyoming think of ourselves as much different from those …

WY Resident Preference Points – A Very Bad Idea for a Number of Reasons:

And here we go again. Another legislative session in Cheyenne and for some reason the same bad ideas seem to keep coming up, over and over again. Most of us here in Wyoming think of ourselves as much different from those in Washington, D.C. and for the most part we are. However, when it comes to the subject of resident preference points the bad idea just won’t seem to go away much like those bad ideas that seem to surface over and over again in Washington.

A preference point system for Wyoming’s residents is a bad, poorly thought-out idea and here are 12 reasons why from my point of view with over 40 years of Wyoming residency and nearly two decades of writing and compiling extensive analysis on Wyoming’s draw and application system from a perspective outside the agency.

1) HUNTER RECRUITMENT – Every single state that has implemented a point system has seen resident hunter recruitment drop drastically. Try telling your pre-teen son or daughter that he or she has to wait 33-years to draw a high-quality Wyoming elk tag and see what happens. The X-Box starts to look a whole lot more attractive in a hurry. Colorado has been one of the absolute worst cases for this.

2) POINT CREEP CRASHES THE SYSTEM EVENTUALLY – All true preference point systems eventually drift toward a random draw process in the end. Once the system becomes completely overloaded with applicants the mathematics no longer work and the system becomes a random draw system for those who got in on the ground floor and shuts out the low point people almost completely in the process. Point systems don’t solve anything in the end. Case and point, the point system got so bad in Arizona that the State had to carve out a portion of the high demand tags for a random draw to keep hunter/applicant interest up which in turn really ticked off the high point holders as the State changed the game midstream on them.

3) A RANDOM PROCESS IS MORE ATTRACTIVE – The states of ID and NM have no points systems and are beginning to see higher amounts of new hunter traffic for that reason. The old-school style, straight-up draw has become more and more appealing for younger hunters and those that have been late to the game, so to speak. Everyone having the same chance is exciting for people. That is why the lottery does not have a point/loyalty system; new people would refuse to participate, collapsing the system. Everyone has the same chance and that’s a good thing for interest and excitement.

4) LESS REVENUE LONG TERM – Since when has a government entity strategically planned for the long-term? Um, probably never, but the fact is a point system, while appealing from a revenue standpoint in the short term, can create a loss of revenue over the long haul. Once a high point holder draws a tag he will not go back into the system. He is either too old, or too discouraged by facing another 20-year wait. This has a huge effect financially on the system. The states of AZ, UT and NV are seeing this and it is hurting them big time in their budgets and revenues. A good-sized portion of the guys that draw those high-point elk tags in AZ never apply again.

5) HUNTER DISCOURAGEMENT – In the outlined AZ elk model above, unless the guy is in his 20s when he starts applying for tags, 33 years of diligently applying will put him past his core hunting age by the time he draws. I am already seeing this with the current WY nonresident point system. Guys are getting too old to hunt with 12-14 years vested into the system and do not plan on coming back to WY to apply once drawn.

6) EXTREME EXPECTATIONS – Once a guy or gal waits 33 years for an elk tag there better be a bunch of giant bulls out there for him to chase. His expectation for the hunt is so darn high he will never be satisfied unless the state can produce a bunch of 400” bulls which WY historically does not. We are already seeing this in the nonresident point system. This will cause a giant headache for the G&F Department as resident feedback must be considered on nearly every single management decision the department makes. This creates a process where the big game managers feel it necessary to cut the tag quotas drastically to even have a hope of producing the types of bulls the public expects, leaving more bulls to die of old age on the mountain. This become a no-win situation for the department in the end and no one is happy. Ask the State of Utah. When they were producing massive amounts of 400” bulls in the early 2000s they had to drop the elk quotas to such an anemic level that virtually no one could draw a tag, causing outrage from the public and headaches with the ranchers.

7) REGRET – Nearly every state game agency insider I have talked to has in some form conveyed regret for the implementation of their points systems over time. Most of them wish they would have just kept their systems clean neat and random in the end. To run some of these systems, it takes massive amounts of computing horsepower and programming time, which is extremely costly and complex.

8) THE BIG MYTH – There is a myth that a point system will miraculously solve the problem of too many applicants and not enough tags. This is totally false. There will never be enough tags to satisfy the hunting public and a preference point system will not remedy this. A point system can possibly equalize the 1% or 2% of the very lucky folks that always seem to draw tags placing those tags back into the pool for high point holders, however this change is usually statistically irrelevant. There will never be enough overly lucky applicants to even begin to compensate for the masses that find themselves unlucky. Placing two “lucky draw” elk tags from Area 30 back into the pool would not even budge the draw odds by three tenths of a single percent for the remaining applicants. Sorry, guys.

9) EXCESSIVE COST AND HEADACHE – Point systems are expensive to run and create a lot more work, processes and systems for the agencies to manage. This creates an extremely complex process where people are so vested in the system, that even the slightest mistake made can create outrage that would certainly make the front page of every single newspaper in the state. Most of these systems are outsourced to high tech out-of-state companies that know nothing about hunting or wildlife management. Ask the State of Colorado how this has worked out for them, as they have found themselves in the middle of a complete disaster after last year’s draw process changes created a mountain of applicants so large that they will never see or hear the end of it.

10) SIMPLICITY AND THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE – In war they say the element of surprise is a massive advantage. Although this is nothing like war by any means, the element of surprise that a random process brings usually creates a very high level of excitement. If you know exactly when you are going to draw a tag, the excitement just isn’t there from year to year. I have seen this happen over the years with Wyoming’s current process. The nonresident draw is usually lackluster and ho-hum. Most of the guys that draw expected it to be that way anyway. To residents however, the draw results are nearly like a second Christmas in June. The excitement levels are through the roof with text messages and Facebook posts and phone calls to family, friends and neighbors. This excitement is good for the sport and the system, the type of excitement that only the simplicity of a random draw process can create.

11) THE LION’S SHARE – The Department knows this all too well. From a purely mathematical and statistical perspective a preference point system is not needed in WY for residents for nearly 90% of the hunts. Wyoming residents get the lion’s share of the tags (84% for elk), and with less than 500,000 residents, it is mathematically ridiculous to implement a points system for the entire system just to try and fix a few extremely high demand hunt areas. The average limited quota resident bull elk tag in Wyoming has nearly 40% odds of being drawn. There is no need for a preference point system in Wyoming, not to mention, the points system has not fixed anything for moose and sheep and it won’t for deer, elk and antelope either. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but no mathematical gimmick in the world will increase your odds of drawing the elk tag in Area 100. With only 77 tags and nearly 4,000 applicants, you are either going to have to get really, really lucky or wait roughly 52 years. I’ll take the luck, thank you very much. Even a 20-year-old would be over 70 years old before he could be assured that elk tag.

12) LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES – The final reason may not be the most obvious to most but could be the most devastating of the bunch. All too often government tries to fix a perceived problem and what actually happens as a result ends up making the problem worse. And if that weren’t bad enough, the fact that most government “fixes” cannot be easily reversed makes the disastrous change permanent. In my opinion, this scenario will be more of the same. Once the point system is put in place, a promise is made and cannot be reversed. The whole idea is to move way from a random draw and into something less random and “more fair.” What will really happen is we will move away from a random draw and into something much more permanent and much more dedicated. When a state first initiates a preference point system three things happen, guys get 100% serious and dedicated to the system. Everyone wants to be on the ground floor of the new system or be left behind forever. Look at the mathematical prospects of entering nearly any state’s preference point system at this point in time with no points to your name. Not good. Second, with the cheap cost of resident tags, many applicants get serious and dedicated for others as well, applying their kids, wives and friends without ever missing a single year. And last, guys begin to work the system to their benefit. All three of these things result in one thing, more applicants than ever before. I would not be surprised one bit to see the total number of resident applicants in the draw to increase by 20%-30% or even more. I know a lot of guys that forget to apply or just hunt general for meat, or don’t apply for their kids because they have football in the fall. This will all be gone. Guys will get serious in a hurry to get in on the ground floor of this system. The resident deer hunter who prefers to just hunt over in Region G each fall will now apply for preference points. My neighbor who just likes to hunt cows will now become a trophy hunter and apply for points, to ensure a future bull even though he really doesn’t want one, but now he has to or forever be left behind. And the guy who got laid off last week that is going for forego the draw this year for financial reasons, will now sell a gun or some tools to make it happen. This will only ensure one thing and one thing only, we could get less than we already have as a result, with a permanent increase in applicants and serious ones.

These are just a few of the drawbacks of a point system. The G&F does not want a resident point system because they know the stats behind what they already have in place and I believe if the public could see those stats they wouldn’t want a point system either. Too many negatives, and once you start down that road, you can never, ever, ever go back, and that is a dangerous road to travel even for the government.

]]>https://blog.eastmans.com/the-myth-of-preference-points/feed/7111811Mountain Goat Eradication?https://blog.eastmans.com/mountain-goat-eradication/
https://blog.eastmans.com/mountain-goat-eradication/#commentsTue, 08 Jan 2019 19:26:40 +0000https://blog.eastmans.com/?p=11808In September, 2018, Eastman’s Official Blog reported on what amounts to the largest mountain goat relocation project in American history in Washington’s Olympic National Park (“ONP”). That project, scheduled to continue through 2020, quite possibly could result in several hundred mountain goats being eradicated if they cannot all be relocated to Washington State’s Cascade Mountains. …

In September, 2018, Eastman’s Official Blog reported on what amounts to the largest mountain goat relocation project in American history in Washington’s Olympic National Park (“ONP”). That project, scheduled to continue through 2020, quite possibly could result in several hundred mountain goats being eradicated if they cannot all be relocated to Washington State’s Cascade Mountains. On the heels of that announcement, officials are now considering the same fate for a growing population of mountain goats in Wyoming’s Grand Tetons based at least in part on the argument that the mountain goats may “possibly” have negative impacts on the native Teton Range bighorn sheep herd.

Public comments on all the proposals are being accepted through January 6, 2019. At this time, the website (https://parkplanning.nps.gov/mountaingoat) for reviewing the proposals and submitting comments is not operable. The National Park Service proposes three alternatives: 1) no action; 2) lethal and non-lethal removal of the mountain goats; and 3) lethal removal of all the mountain goats.

This issue is not new to the Grand Tetons. In 2013-2014 officials began looking at the implications of mountain goats moving into the Grand Tetons and how their presence may impact bighorn populations. In 2014 officials believed that the Grand Tetons could support 250-400 mountain goats if left to their own devices. Rough estimates of the population now indicate about 100 mountain goats call the Grand Tetons home.

The formal position taken by officials is that the herd of mountain goats in the Grand Tetons possibly poses a threat to the native bighorn herds, but those same officials reluctantly admit that while the bighorn population in the area is declining they cannot identify the exact cause of why that is happening.

The Grand Tetons and Olympic National Park mountain goat issues beg some interesting questions. Are we seeing a trend with park and wildlife officials and biologists being too quick to literally pull the trigger on one game species for the benefit of another? If that is the case, we need to slow them down and make sure the science supports such drastic measures. Right now, there appears to be only a “possibility” that the Grand Teton herd of mountain goats is one potential cause of the declining bighorn herd. Of more significance are the domestic animals and human encroachment on the wildlife as a whole. The Grand Teton herd is isolated because of human encroachment, which is causing the competition for resources in the first place.

Also, are we seeing the impact of prior relocation efforts coming back to haunt us? The Grand Teton herd of mountain goats is believed to have started through relocation efforts by the State of Idaho in the 1960s. Obviously, those relocation efforts worked if the population grew to this level.

And are we looking at a situation where we should act now while relocation efforts are manageable? Or do we “wait and see”? Olympic National Park is looking at relocating 750 mountain goats in a three year span. With the amount of information currently available given the year-to-year population counts, the Grand Teton mountain goat herd could explode in the next few years and make lethal removal almost certain. Do we want that?

Nobody likes the thought of declining populations of any game animal, especially one as rare as bighorn sheep. But shooting a mountain goat from a helicopter and leaving the meat to rot is not a very appealing concept, either.

]]>https://blog.eastmans.com/mountain-goat-eradication/feed/1311808Your Health In The Backcountryhttps://blog.eastmans.com/your-healthin-the-backcountry/
https://blog.eastmans.com/your-healthin-the-backcountry/#commentsThu, 03 Jan 2019 15:45:05 +0000https://blog.eastmans.com/?p=11801 Alaska Wilderness Hunt and Health Study In the fall of 2017 I headed to the wilderness of Alaska to fulfill a 20-year dream of hunting caribou and moose in the largest and most remote state in the Union. A DIY float hunt was the plan and the adventure that awaited wouldn’t disappoint. …

In the fall of 2017 I headed to the wilderness of Alaska to fulfill a 20-year dream of hunting caribou and moose in the largest and most remote state in the Union. A DIY float hunt was the plan and the adventure that awaited wouldn’t disappoint.

On this type of trip, one doesn’t know what to expect. What will the river character be? Will we see any animals we can harvest? If we do see the wildlife species we were after, would they be mature trophy species we dreamed of? What weather conditions would we be dealing with and how would they affect survival mode for a total of 12 days in the backcountry? However, one more question popped up as the hunt was drawing near and it didn’t have anything to do with the hunt specifically.

My friend and Alaska contact, Larry Bartlett, asked if we would participate in a health study that has never been done before. A study that would focus on the energy and caloric demands of wilderness hunters – the group that probably most closely resemble the nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles of certain ancient peoples.

The last question that popped in my head as we were asked to participate in this groundbreaking study was, will this study interfere with my once-in-a-lifetime dream hunt? Being someone with a biology degree, I was extremely interested in being one of the chosen “lab rats”, but it definitely couldn’t negatively impact the hunt and mission at hand.

Plus, like many backcountry hunters, I’ve always noticed extreme changes in body composition over a 5-10 day hunt where physical exertion is extreme and food is usually less than gourmet. I wanted to know exactly what is happening biologically to my muscle and fat mass. Is backcountry weight loss a product of fat AND muscle loss or is it possible to maintain and/or increase muscle mass while losing visceral fat and overall body fat under these nutrition and exertion levels?

My hunting partner, Casey Anderson (also a biologist), and I were on board with this experiment Larry informed us of. The study/experiment, conducted by Dr. Robert Coker,from the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, began two days prior to our wilderness bush flight. Dr. Coker met us at our hotel room and informed us about the use of a water based isotope and the daily urine samples we had to take and transport with us down the river (we hereby named this adventure “Ur-ine (You’re In) Alaska”) to help measure our energy expenditure. We were also asked to keep a meal diary to track our total energy intake on this 80 river-mile float hunt.

Finally! The first day of the adventure arrives and we are dropped in the Alaskan wilderness for a 10-day float hunt, 12-day total time away from civilization. As you can tell from the Beyond The Grid webisode, the adventure didn’t disappoint! (You will also notice a couple of times when Casey couldn’t resist looking at the camera and saying, “Ur-ine (You’re In) Alaska!” Needless to say there were a lot of sarcastic urine comments when traveling 80 miles of river in the wilderness and toting 12 urine vials with. Glad those Zip-Loc bags didn’t leak!!!!)

Casey harvested a dandy caribou on day 2 of the float, which meant we had several days of meat care ahead of us, leading to additional daily chores and exertion. After each morning hunt we’d tear down camp and load rafts, taking special precautions to leave no trace of our existence for future hunters floating this particular river. Each evening we’d unload rafts on a new gravel bar, make camp, and hunt until dark. Doing this for 10-12 days is just plain physically and mentally exhausting, no matter what type of shape you are in.

The day after we made it back to Fairbanks, courtesy of our trusty bush pilot, we once again checked in at the University of Alaska Fairbanks lab for the post-hunt MRI and DEXA scans, and the measurement of peak oxygen consumption during exercise. Even the initial weigh-in results post-hunt were amazing! I began the trip at my “fighting” weight of 205 lbs (I’m 6’2” tall) and had a post-hunt weight of 190 lbs. That is a weight loss of 15 lbs from a frame that was in lean-shape before the hunt even began – a weight I haven’t been at for over 20 years!!! Casey noticed similar results as well.

Several months later, Dr. Coker and his team presented and defended their findings at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Minneapolis, MN. They recently published the data in the scientific journal, Physiological Reports. Here is a synopsis of the study, officially titled The Caloric Costs and Metabolic Benefits of Wilderness Hunting in Alaska:

There was a decrease in body weight, total fat mass and visceral fat volume. In contrast, total leg and arm lean tissue mass were preserved. CONCLUSION: In the context of a chronic caloric deficit elicited by over 4k calories of energy expenditure/day, adipose tissue and IHL decreased without any reduction in lean tissue mass or muscle mass. These alterations may reflect the interactive influence of movement constancy and caloric deficit on the health benefits of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

Here’s the Brandon Mason paraphrase: living an active hunting lifestyle is good for you! Theodore Roosevelt poetically stated, “Only he who has partaken thereof, can appreciate the keen delight of hunting in lonely lands.” Hunting and living the outdoors lifestyle is not only good for your soul, but is also great for your body. Dr. Coker’s team is actively continuing this study to further understand the demands of this type of lifestyle. We will continue to monitor the results and update you if updates are warranted.

]]>https://blog.eastmans.com/your-healthin-the-backcountry/feed/211801The Northern Herds: Beyond The Grid TVhttps://blog.eastmans.com/the-northern-herds-beyond-the-grid-tv/
https://blog.eastmans.com/the-northern-herds-beyond-the-grid-tv/#commentsFri, 28 Dec 2018 16:12:14 +0000https://blog.eastmans.com/?p=11798Travel north to the vast public lands of Alaska with Brian Barney and Brandon Mason to chase caribou! This episode of Beyond The Grid TV shows the hard work and determination needed to get it done in the North Country!

Travel north to the vast public lands of Alaska with Brian Barney and Brandon Mason to chase caribou! This episode of Beyond The Grid TV shows the hard work and determination needed to get it done in the North Country!

]]>https://blog.eastmans.com/the-northern-herds-beyond-the-grid-tv/feed/411798Montana Public Land Mule Deer And Elk Hunt- Beyond The Grid TVhttps://blog.eastmans.com/montana-public-land-mule-deer-and-elk-hunt-beyond-the-grid-tv/
https://blog.eastmans.com/montana-public-land-mule-deer-and-elk-hunt-beyond-the-grid-tv/#commentsThu, 27 Dec 2018 23:44:06 +0000https://blog.eastmans.com/?p=11795Rifle hunting on the public lands of Montana, the bread and butter of Eastmans’ Beyond the Grid TV. Hunters John Pickar and Todd Fedor head out to Eastern Montana to hunt mule deer and elk on your public lands. Anyone that has hunted with their dad will find this episode right up your alley. Leave …

Rifle hunting on the public lands of Montana, the bread and butter of Eastmans’ Beyond the Grid TV. Hunters John Pickar and Todd Fedor head out to Eastern Montana to hunt mule deer and elk on your public lands. Anyone that has hunted with their dad will find this episode right up your alley. Leave us a comment if you have great memories hunting with your dad!

]]>https://blog.eastmans.com/montana-public-land-mule-deer-and-elk-hunt-beyond-the-grid-tv/feed/311795Mike Eastman Hunts B&C Pronghornhttps://blog.eastmans.com/mike-eastman-hunts-bc-pronghorn/
https://blog.eastmans.com/mike-eastman-hunts-bc-pronghorn/#commentsWed, 12 Dec 2018 21:51:52 +0000https://blog.eastmans.com/?p=11781Mike Eastman takes to the public land of Wyoming for a DIY antelope hunt in this web edition of Eastmans’ Hunting TV. With decades of pronghorn hunting under his belt, Eastman sets a high bar and won’t settle for just any trophy antelope. It’s a Boone & Crockett buck or bust!

Mike Eastman takes to the public land of Wyoming for a DIY antelope hunt in this web edition of Eastmans’ Hunting TV. With decades of pronghorn hunting under his belt, Eastman sets a high bar and won’t settle for just any trophy antelope. It’s a Boone & Crockett buck or bust!

]]>https://blog.eastmans.com/mike-eastman-hunts-bc-pronghorn/feed/211781Don’t Ruin Your Gear: How To Wash Outdoor Gearhttps://blog.eastmans.com/dont-ruin-your-gear-how-to-wash-outdoor-gear/
https://blog.eastmans.com/dont-ruin-your-gear-how-to-wash-outdoor-gear/#commentsMon, 03 Dec 2018 19:00:45 +0000https://blog.eastmans.com/?p=11775Don’t ruin your expensive hunting gear by using the wrong types of soap! Wash your outdoor gear with detergents that don’t break down your clothing preventing it from lasting as long as it should! Watch this video to see what we use to protect our gear!

Don’t ruin your expensive hunting gear by using the wrong types of soap! Wash your outdoor gear with detergents that don’t break down your clothing preventing it from lasting as long as it should! Watch this video to see what we use to protect our gear!

]]>https://blog.eastmans.com/dont-ruin-your-gear-how-to-wash-outdoor-gear/feed/211775Our Favorite Rifleshttps://blog.eastmans.com/ourfavoriterifles/
https://blog.eastmans.com/ourfavoriterifles/#commentsTue, 20 Nov 2018 22:57:39 +0000https://blog.eastmans.com/?p=11758Every one of us has a rifle that we look at in the safe and can’t help but reach for when it comes time to go hunting. Here are some of our favorites that you can find at Sportsman’s Warehouse or on their website. You can now order a rifle online and then pick it …

Rifles make memories, memories make a favorite rifle. The fall of 2018 is full of memories with my Savage Lightweight 110 Storm rifle and as such it will be a rifle that I look forward to making many more memories with. The 5.6 lb before scope light weight rifle served us well in Wyoming’s high country on a pack in early mule deer hunt where Scott Reekers harvested his buck. Then it quickly transitioned to Colorado’s high desert and knocked down an antelope buck. After a short break I put it to use again on my mule deer hunt in southwest Wyoming where the easy trigger squeeze of the AccuTrigger and the fit of the sporter style AccuStock made for a comfortable shot. This hunt tested the finish of the rifle with nasty snow storms and wet conditions, the finish is no worse for wear and still catches the eye. After my Wyoming mule deer I had the pleasure of taking my girls on a Wyoming antelope hunt. We made family memories that will be passed along with this rifle. Finally I closed out this season with a whitetail buck from Nebraska on a lifelong friend’s newest property where the hunting is going to be good for many years. I plan to make just as many memories next fall and the Savage Lightweight 110 Storm will be there with me.

Over the years, I have used about every high-powered rifle caliber on the planet for big game hunting. I’ve fallen in love with a few over the years, and the one I seem to keep coming back to is the .270 WSM. Big enough to effectively take an elk-sized animal, like the Marco Polo I shot in 2017, yet small enough to cleanly take smaller big game animals and also not beat you up too bad on the range, this round in Savage’s new Storm 110 is a tough combo to beat!

The rounds we’ve been putting it through this fall are cooking out of the barrel at a whopping 3100 fps!!! Did I mention this is factory ammo, not souped up custom loads?

In early November, Eastmans’ team member Brandon Mason even took it up to Alberta to hunt trophy mule deer and, as you can see for yourself, it did the job nicely.

What makes the new Savage 110 Storm rifles so impressive no matter the caliber is the addition of their AccuFit system (adjustable length-of-pull and comb height on the stock) to their already killer AccuTrigger and AccuStock rifle features. Out-of-the-box accuracy has been the Savage claim for years, and now they can add customizable fit to their repertoire.

The physical differences between men and women became ever more apparent to me after a hunting season of uncomfortable shooting behind a friend’s loaner rifle. Determined to improve my experience at the range and afield, I discovered the solution in the 11 Lady Hunter by Savage Arms. This rifle is truly designed to meet the needs of the female hunter. At 12.5 inches the shorter length of pull combined with a scaled-down, slender grip makes the rifle feel at home in my hand improving my trigger squeeze and accuracy. My favorite feature is the contoured raised comb. It has drastically increased the speed at which I can shoulder the rifle and get crosshairs on my target. Even though it features a walnut wood stock, in my experience the rifle isn’t a burden to carry for miles on an all day hunting excursion as it weighs in at only six pounds without optics. I’ve now enjoyed three successful hunting seasons with the 11 Lady Hunter and my shooting proficiency continues to advance plus it’s just more fun!

The first rifle I ever owned was a Weatherby Vanguard in .30-06. I harvested my first mule deer with that rifle and it has been a part of many successful elk hunting trips. My next rifle was a Weatherby Mark V chambered in .300 WBY that helped me harvest my first bull elk and was what I used to harvest my holy grail buck of 30 inches wide. Both rifles are shooters, straight from the factory and with this combo I arguably have a rifle capable of ethically putting down every big game animal in North America, even the most dangerous game. The Vanguard loves factory ammo and with a little cooking my Mark V puts the 180 grain bullets with a hot load at 300 yards right on top of each other. All that said, I have a hard time not looking at Weatherby rifles when I visit Sportsman’s Warehouse as I know exactly what I will be getting!

Any model of rifle from Kimber has proven to be the perfect mountain hunting rifle for my style of hunting, but I chose the Kimber Mountain Ascent in 280 Ackley Improved. As a backcountry hunter I am always ounce counting and the biggest appeal to me is the weight of the Mountain Ascent. The rifle weighs less than 5 lbs naked and 6.8 lbs fully loaded with a 4-16x scope, bipods and sling. All with the ability to maintain MOA accuracy. Being stainless steel, the Mountain Ascent can withstand any conditions I throw at it in the field. The benefit of the 280 AI is the steep shoulder which gives you higher velocities than the 280 rem and slightly less than a 7mm Magnum. Which means it is plenty of rifle for any big game animal in North America without the cost of heavy recoil. Until recently, factory ammo didn’t exist but Hornady and Nosler now have custom ammo loaded in 162 and 140 grain bullets.

If you’re looking for a semi-custom rifle there are lots of options out there, however, there aren’t many places where you can go and put your hands on one of these beauties. Whether it be the new Bergara Premier Approach, Cooper Firearms Backcountry, Christensen Arms Rogue, Nosler M48, or a Seekins Precision Pro Hunter, Sportsman’s Warehouse has you covered, literally. Walk into just about any location and you’re likely to be able to put your mitts on a semi-custom rifle from one of these top manufacturers. Or, even better, check out the online gun selection to buy online and pickup at your closest Sportsman’s Warehouse location. There just isn’t anyplace else where you can actually handle many of these brands before buying and if you’re going to drop that kind of coin it’s nice to be able to handle the merchandise first not to mention talk with a sales professional that actually understands what sets semi-custom high end rifles apart from the rest of the pack. So if you’re in the market for an aspirational rifle Sportsmans’ Warehouse or www.sportsmanswarehouse.com needs to be your first stop, either in store or online. Getting your hands on high end performance rifles has never been easier.